Roasted vegetables with sesame seeds, grilled portabella and pepper panini, cilantro rice and beans with ancho chilies. You don’t need to be an everyday vegetarian to enjoy appealing vegetable dishes. But if you are, you may enjoy the benefits of plant-based eating—if you choose foods carefully.
The chance of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, even obesity tends to be lower among vegetarians. Typically they eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, and more complex carbohydrates, fiber, folate, and phytonutrients. Protein sources differ, but they can be just as adequate in protein as meat.
But beware, vegetarian eating can be high-fat or high-calorie, too. Soy burgers, soy hot dogs, and other vegetarian dishes can have high-fat ingredients. Other challenges: A vegetarian diet may come up short in iron and zinc, vitamin B, (found only in meat, pountry, fish, and dairy foods), and perhaps calcium and vitamin D when dairy foods aren’t consumed.
Enjoy easy vegetarian meals during National Vegetarian Awareness Month.
- Grill meaty portabella mushrooms to make great mushroom burgers.
- Transform spaghetti with canned kidney, cannellini, or soybeans in place of meatballs.
- Load your pizza with frozen or canned mixed veggies and beans or tempeh.
- Toss nuts into vegetable salads and stir-fries.
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